SOS Seeking Our Sister
by TurbulentReaction
Summary: The Afton brothers found it hard to get along following the death of their sister. The younger one insists that one of their father's machines killed her, but his older brother refuses to believe a word of it. When they go on a little adventure to find out the truth, however, they discover that their lost sibling might still be around- albeit imprisoned, in more ways than one.
1. Bickering Brothers

**A/N:** Hey there! This is my first time writing a FNaF fanfic, so I hope you'll enjoy. Just to give you a quick heads-up: This is loosely a "What-if" AU which follows the story from the games up to a certain point, but then goes into a different direction. As such, characters, events and such should be similar, but I will most likely take some liberties and change a few things as I go along. This will be based on what direction I want this story to go as well as theories and headcanons I personally hold. Shouldn't be anything too drastic, but if there's anything about my interpretation that you disagree with, just remember that it's not intended to 100% adhere to the canon story.

That aside, enough preamble; Let's get to what you're here for!

* * *

Tim shuddered as he wandered the hall of the restaurant. He felt like another one of those horrible robots could be around every corner. He was not going to deny it- they scared him. Why were they so big? Why did they have those unsettling faces? Why did he feel like their unblinking eyes were always following him?

He simply could not understand why Dad had made them like that.

Ahead was a familiar face. It was his sister, Lizzy. She was peeking through one of the doors in the hall. It led to a small party room from what Tim could see. He attempted to call out to Lizzy, but his voice was weak, and she was too engrossed by the sights and sounds she saw and heard in that room to notice him.

Waiting not a second longer, Lizzy ducked inside the door. Tim hurriedly ran towards it and rushed through as well upon reaching it.

As he had feared, there was one of the robots up on a stage. This one unsettled him perhaps the most. It was made to look like a young girl, but it was easily the biggest one. She was singing a song, but Tim could not care to listen. He felt like he had to talk to Lizzy about these things, and he had to do it now.

Where was she? He looked around. The room appeared deserted.

There! By the stage, he spotted the familiar orange-blonde hair, red bow and all. Tim started walking towards her, but stopped when he noticed the robot on stage was no longer singing, and had bowed to look at Lizzy, who simply stood there in wide-eyed awe and innocent delight. The room was eerily quiet now; nothing moved, nothing made a noise, only the faint buzz of activity from the other rooms could be heard. All Tim felt was building dread.

Then the robot's stomach opened to reveal something, a prize of sorts. Ice cream. It was right there for the taking, as if the mechanical girl was offering it. Lizzy greedily reached for it, oblivious to what was about to happen.

Tim looked back and forth between Lizzy and the robot, and saw with horror that the latter's eyes had become dull, empty. He could not watch this any longer and yelled at Lizzy.

"No!"

But it was too late. She had gotten too close, and a claw shot out of the robot's stomach. In a flash, Lizzy was gone, eaten by the robot's stomach-mouth. Tim squeezed his eyes shut. Horrible noises filled the room- screaming, grinding metal.

Tim could feel the tears streaming down his cheeks, and for a while, his own cries of fear and anguish drowned out the awful sounds. It wasn't until he finally stopped crying that he noticed all the noise was gone.

He opened his eyes; his surroundings were dusky, but not too dark to see. The robot was gone. So was the stage, and the awful restaurant itself for that matter. Instead, there was just his bedroom. Judging from the happy chirping noises of birds outside, it was already morning.

Tim exhaled slowly. Another nightmare. He had lost count by this point. It is hard to forget watching your sister get murdered by a machine, after all- especially since nobody seemed to believe him. At least he would not have to go back to sleep.

He looked around at his familiar surroundings to try and calm himself down. He could still feel his heart beating in his throat, but it was slowly going back to normal now. There was the door to his room, his closet, his scattered toys, his plushies, Foxy, the-

Wait, Foxy?

"RRAAAHHH!" Foxy cried, making a lunging motion towards him. Tim screamed, and his eyes started watering again.

Then his brother took off the Foxy mask and guffawed at his expense. Tim hugged his blanket, half out of lingering fear response, half out of sheer shocked disbelief. His rapid breathing slowly went back to normal.

Mike's attempts to scare him got meaner by the day. He used to wait until he got out of bed, at least.

When Tim failed to make any sort of response, Mike finally stopped laughing. "Hey, come on now. It's only me. Stop shaking already."

Tim finally looked him in the eye, frustration shining in his still-wet eyes. "I told you to stop doing that, it's not funny."

"Is too," Mike curtly shot back. "You need to man up a little. Had one of those 'killer robot' nightmares again, I bet?"

Tim lightly nodded his head. Mike huffed in mock-disappointment. "Really now. You know those things aren't actually alive, right? They won't try to hurt you any more than a microwave will."

"I know what I saw," Tim hissed. "One of those things killed our sister."

Mike frowned. Now he was actually disappointed. "This again? I told you to stop saying that. Elizabeth died in a gas leak accident. It's really tragic and I won't have you muddle her memory with stupid ghost stories."

"But it's true!" Tim yelled back. Why would nobody believe him?

Mike just rolled his eyes. "And I'm the Queen of the Nile. Get over yourself already."

Before Tim could argue further, Mike already moved to leave the room. Tim sighed, looking at his various plushies in turn. He lingered on Fredbear, who almost seemed to smile at him encouragingly. Today was another day.

* * *

"No! No, no, no!" Tim yelled.

"Yes!" Mike shot back as he pulled harder. Tim held onto the table leg for dear life.

"I don't wanna go!"

"I told you. My friends and I arranged to meet at Fredbear's. But Dad told me to look after you today, and he'll kill me if I leave you alone. So you have to come with!" Mike argued, capping off his explanation with another hard tug. But Tim held on for dear life.

"I don't want to! I'm scared! Don't you get it?" Tim desperately cried, hoping to get through to Mike.

"Get what?! You're being stupid! It's just a children's restaurant. Most kids your age would be ecstatic to go!"

"They're gonna kill us!"

"They?!"

"Those robots!"

Mike groaned in frustration and finally let go. Tim's legs flopped to the floor as he laid there, face-down. They had been at this for a full minute now and Mike's arms were getting tired. "Oh my God, you're never going to get over that, are you?"

Tim sniffled, but didn't reply. He cautiously hoped this meant his brother had given up. Mike moved to the phone in the living room, from which he dialed a number.

"Hello? Yeah, it's me, Mike. Listen, sorry, but I can't make it today. Yeah, my dad's at work so I have to babysit Tim. ...No, I tried, but he's scared for some stupid reason. ...Yeah, I know. Next time for sure, okay? Thanks. See ya."

He hung up again, then sent Tim, who had gotten up and cautiously followed him, another disapproving look. "I hope you're happy now."

Tim looked at the floor, conflicted. "Why won't you just believe me? I saw it with my own eyes, I promise."

Mike looked away, rolling his eyes again. That was his standard response every time Tim tried to reason with him. Then he refocused his eyes on his younger brother. "Okay, suppose I believe you for a second. What did you see these robots of yours do, then?"

Tim let out a deep sigh. This might be his only chance to convince his brother, so he had to tell his story as accurately as possible. "Well, we were at Dad's new restaurant just before it was going to open. It was a party to celebrate the opening, and it was only for invited people."

"'We' being you and Elizabeth, right?" Mike clarified, to which Tim nodded.

"She went her own way and I kinda got lost. I was looking for Dad or Lizzy when one of those aah-ni-tronics..."

"Animatronics," Mike corrected.

"Yeah, that. Anyway, the one that looked like Freddy with the hand puppet snuck up on me, and I almost jumped out of my skin," Tim began again. He could swear he saw his brother roll his eyes and whisper "ah-hah" under his breath.

"So I ran away quickly before he could catch me, and I found Lizzy again. She was on her own in a small room with a stage, and there was another robot there. It looked like a girl, but it was huge." Tim spread out his arms for emphasis as he said "huge," but Mike still seemed unimpressed.

"And then what happened? Did the giant robot girl gobble her up whole?" Mike sarcastically suggested.

"Yeah, it kinda did," Tim quietly agreed. Mike dipped his head a bit and looked at Tim incredulously, but did not interrupt. Tim took it as a sign to quickly continue.

"When I came in, it opened its stomach. I think it was using ice cream to lure Lizzy closer. Then when she was next to it, WHAM!" Tim exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "It grabbed Lizzy with a claw and ate her with the mouth in its stomach. It was horrible. Then other kids ran in, but they wouldn't listen to me..."

Tim's story trailed off when he realized his brother was chuckling to himself. "You don't believe me."

"Of course I don't," Mike sneered between wheezing laughs.

"Why not?!"

"Because it's nonsense, okay? Animatronics aren't that advanced, you couldn't get one to kill someone if you tried. let alone without anybody finding out. And even if you could, Dad and Uncle Henry made these together, didn't they?"

'Uncle Henry' was not actually an uncle of theirs, but he was such a close friend of Dad's that calling him that simply felt natural to the boys. Tim did not get to talk with the man very often, but he seemed nice- nicer than Dad, at least- and he had to admit that it was hard to believe he would help make such a horrible machine. But he saw what he saw, and that would never change.

"I know. But it still happened. I don't know why either," he said to his brother in a quiet voice.

Mike buried his face in his hand. "Good God, Tim, what's it gonna take? Do I have to get Fredbear to give you a kiss before you believe they're harmless?"

Tim flinched at the thought. "No!"

"Then stop freaking out about it already!" Mike groaned as he tried to come up with an argument that would convince his little brother. "Look, Dad and his colleagues work on those killer robots of yours just about every day, right? But they're fine as far as I know. How do you explain that?"

"I don't know! Maybe they only go after kids!" Tim guessed.

"Oh, so now Dad and Uncle Henry made _child_ murder machines, is that it?"

Tim sunk to his knees, making a strangled sound of frustration, unable to answer the question but unwilling to concede the point either.

"Okay, what if-" Mike seemed to get an idea. "What if we go see for ourselves, would that make you happy?"

Tim looked up at him. "What?"

"We sneak into the place Dad works at and check out the animatronics you saw that day. Then you'll see they're just dumb hunks of metal and we can let this stupid nonsense go."

"But... But won't Dad get mad at us, then?" The thought of getting in trouble with Dad again made Tim anxious.

"He goes off to drink or whatever it is he does almost every evening. If we sneak out then and make sure we're back in a couple hours, he won't even notice."

Tim fell silent for a bit. He was wracking his brain for an excuse not to go, because he really, _really_ did not want to.

Mike appeared to notice Tim's reluctance. "What, are you chicken?"

"Yes... Uh, no!" Tim replied, finding a false sense of bravery from nowhere. "But it just seems like a bad idea to me... I mean, how are we even gonna sneak in?"

His brother made a dismissive "pfft" sound. "You let me worry about that. So, we have a deal? We go in, check out the animatronics, you get to see there's nothing to be scared of, we go back home, and we lay this dumb issue to rest once and for all. Sound good?"

Tim swallowed. He could not think of a good reason not to go- Besides the fact that he was very afraid, but Mike would never leave him alone if he let that keep him. "Okay."

Mike smirked. "To be honest, I always was curious about what Dad gets up to down there, he never talks about it. This oughta be fun."

He then briskly walked away, presumably to start planning the night of their little adventure. Tim wished he could feel as confident about the plan, because all he sensed was a foreboding feeling that he was going to regret agreeing to this very quickly.

* * *

 **A/N:** Aaand that's it for the first chapter! If it left you hungry for more- I hope it did- then you're in luck. I've already got the second chapter ready to go, so it should be up already.


	2. Exploring the Depths

A few days later- possibly the longest days in Tim's life up to that point- it was time at last. Mike had thankfully left him alone for the most part, working off and on at creating a plan of action. While he feared no murderous robot, he did fear his father's wrath should they be found out.

Two days earlier Mike had taken note of when Dad left the house in the evening and when he came back, taking that as an estimate for their time limit. The evening after that he did the same, but he had also found out where one of the technicians who worked the night shift at Dad's place lived. (Apparently whatever went on down there required nightly maintenance work.) He took note of when that man left his home as well and carefully tailed him through town, only narrowly avoiding being spotted by the paranoid employee on a couple occasions. Thus, he had managed to locate the entrance of the facility.

He had spent most of today going over the plan with Tim and gathering the necessary supplies. Flashlights for them both plus spare batteries, walkie-talkies in case they would find themselves split up (they were unsure if those would work, but they figured it was worth trying), a water bottle for each in case they got dehydrated, and Mike took one of Dad's knives with him, "For self-defense". (Tim didn't know whether he should protest that last one or not.)

Finally, the time to leave had come. Tim had pretended to go to bed as they had agreed, then when Dad left to do whatever he did at night, Mike went to fetch him. For a brief moment, Tim considered staying home after all and letting Mike go by himself, but he decided it was too late for that now. And deep down, he did not want to let his blissfully ignorant brother walk headlong into danger alone.

When they arrived at the place, Tim was surprised to find just a tiny building with only what appeared to be an elevator inside, and little else. Mike explained that the actual facility was underground. Unfortunately, they could not get the elevator to move, no matter what button they pressed- presumably, only employees knew how it worked. Luckily, Mike had planned for this.

He went out and retrieved two large cardboard boxes from where he had hidden them earlier, big enough to conceal them if they curled up enough. He placed each in an unassuming spot in the poorly-lit elevator, carefully positioning them so they would catch as little attention as possible. Then, he instructed Tim to hide under the smaller box while he took the bigger one. And then they waited.

A few minutes later- just as Mike had expected- nervous footsteps sounded and a man quietly stepped in. There was a tense moment as Tim and Mike both silently prayed the man would not take notice of the cardboard boxes at his feet.

And the moment lingered on...

And on...

...And eventually, the elevator doors shut with a loud clang. The technician must have either chosen to ignore the unusual presence in the elevator, or he was simply too focused on starting his shift to notice. In hindsight, Mike was amazed that his plan had actually worked without a hitch.

The elevator began moving with the sound of groaning metal, shuddering and rattling as it did. Mike had not accounted for this, and lying still on the shaking metal surface under the box quickly became uncomfortable. He thought to himself that this was his due punishment for celebrating his success too early. Hopefully, the elevator ride would be a short one.

Tim, meanwhile, had only just dared to breathe again after what felt like minutes of anxiously holding it. This was still a bad idea. But there really was no turning back now.

"Welcome back to another exciting night of maintenance work," a neutral-sounding male voice suddenly announced from somewhere. It had a bit of a canned quality to it. "Your main task for tonight is to head over to the Parts & Service room. Funtime Foxy has suffered a malfunction earlier today, and the daytime technicians did not have enough time available to repair him. You will receive more specific instructions upon arrival there." The boys could not see what went on, but it sounded like someone was talking to the technician. Did the elevator have an intercom system?

The technician in the elevator with them only groaned in response. It seemed he was not looking forward to whatever task he was just assigned.

It took longer than Mike and Tim would have liked, but eventually the elevator stopped. The doors hissed open not long after that, and the boys could hear the technician (somewhat reluctantly) stepping out. His footsteps stopped shortly after that and were replaced by a dull, low, metallic, rhythmic thumping noise that slowly grew more distant.

Very slowly, the boys emerged from their boxes. "Motion trigger: Entryway vent," a static female voice announced while they got to their feet, causing them to freeze briefly to listen for any other sounds. None came. They were not spotted yet.

They agreed to wait a minute or two longer, to ensure the technician was well and truly gone.

"Odd that the employee entrance is just this vent here," Mike remarked. Tim just "Hmm-hmm"-ed in response.

A little while later, they heard the same female voice from before announce "Funtime auditorium maintenance vent opened," and not long after that, a similar message for a place called "Parts & Service"- that must have been the place that the male voice spoke of earlier. The boys took that as signal that the coast was clear. Mike went first, clicking on his flashlight and ducking into the vent.

Tim went in only seconds later, suddenly very afraid of being separated from his brother in the dark facility. He clicked on his flashlight too, but soon realized there was not much point to that, as all he could see were the soles of Mike's shoes ahead of him.

"Motion trigger: Entryway vent," the voice announced again. Mike froze immediately, stopping so suddenly that Tim nearly knocked into him. They waited for a few tense seconds, but nothing else happened. If anyone heard that, they did not care.

Mike let out a relieved breath and continued. He neared the end of the tunnel ahead and clicked off his flashlight, which they had agreed to do beforehand to minimize the chance of being spotted.

When Tim emerged from the vent, his brother had already found a set of drawers and was rifling through them. Tim looked around anxiously. The room they were in was a bit cramped and had creepy masks and heads everywhere. Tim then looked up, and gasped.

Mike turned around at that. "What?"

Tim pointed up with a shaky finger, towards the camera that faced them. Mike took in a hissing breath through his teeth and inspected the camera closely.

"...We're in luck," Mike whispered to his brother. "I don't think anyone's watching this right now. There's usually a red light to show that it's recording, but this one's is off. Still, just to be sure..."

He checked his pockets and fished out a handkerchief. Then he stood on top of the drawers to reach the camera lens, which he carefully draped the handkerchief over.

"That should do it," he quietly said. Tim could only hope he was right.

"Anyway, look what I found in the drawer." Mike proudly presented a clipboard. He pointed to a line on the page, which said "Elevator access code:" followed by a string of numbers.

"What's that?" Tim could not help but ask. Mike suppressed a groan.

"It's for the elevator we rode down here, dum-dum. With this, we should be able to come and go as we please." Tim couldn't help but feel a little relieved at that. The way back was secure.

Mike took another look around the room. From where they came in, there were large windows to the left and right, but beyond them was only inky darkness. There were three vents apart from the one they emerged from, one in each cardinal direction, but only two were open: The one in front and the one to the right.

"Looks like we gotta choose which way to go," Tim commented. If he was honest, he would prefer not to go any further at all, but he knew Mike would never agree to turning back until they saw what they came here to see.

Mike did not ponder his choice for long. "Obviously we're going forward," he declared. "I'm not going in there." He pointed at the dark window to their right, through which absolutely nothing could be seen. Indeed, if Tim had the choice, he would rather not go into that room either. But then, how could they know if the other vent would be any better?

Either way, Mike had already begun clambering into the vent, so Tim hurried in after him.

"Motion trigger: Circus gallery vent," the female voice announced once more. This time, the boys were a little more prepared for it, but it was still startling. They could only hope they had not alerted anybody as they proceeded.

The room they emerged in appeared to be a dead end. There were no exits besides the one they emerged from. The rather small space only featured a desk with all manner of buttons and switches on it. The boys thought better of touching any of that. Behind the desk were three large windows through which a room covered in pitch-black darkness could be seen- or rather, could not be seen.

Mike looked around and spotted a nearby panel with two buttons on it. One of them had a sun symbol, which he guessed was a light switch. He considered pressing it, but... Although he would never admit it to Tim, the anticipation was getting to him too. He almost did not dare to press the button for fear of what he might see ahead.

Almost. But with a quick breath, he pressed it anyway.

There was a sputtering, buzzing noise and some weak light did appear for a moment, but it was not strong enough to illuminate anything. Then it went out again. Were the lights broken?

"I can't see," Tim whined. Mike looked at his brother and sighed. The boy was not quite tall enough to properly look through the window. Maybe he could, if he stood on his tiptoes right next to the window, but Mike knew he was not brave enough for that.

"Well, you're not missing much. The lights seem to be out," Mike explained. He sighed, and peered through the window a little more closely, hoping to see something in that inky darkness, but his eyes could not make out anything. His only option now was to use his flashlight, but that thought made him nervous somehow. What if-

Mike's train of thought was rudely interrupted by the sound of his brother gasping. He looked at Tim again and frowned, his short patience wearing thin. "What is it this time?"

Tim just pointed a finger up, behind Mike's shoulder, to something close to the ceiling. "Look!" Mike turned around with some apprehension, but soon calmed when he saw that Tim was getting upset over absolutely nothing. Just some old poster that somebody had pasted on the window. It featured what looked like a robot girl with a somewhat clownish design, the word "Celebrate!" cheerfully printed above the image.

With another heavy sigh, Mike turned back to his brother. "Well?" he asked expectantly. This had better be good.

"That's... That's the one," Tim said simply, eyes still uniformly fixed on the poster far above him.

"The one?"

"It's what killed Lizzy."

"Fantastic," Mike replied, almost bored. If Tim hoped he was any closer to buying his story, now that they were down here, he was sorely mistaken. Mike prided himself on his ability to see through bull, and Tim's story reeked of it. Some spooky atmosphere was not going to throw him off.

"Do you..." Tim began, pausing to take a gulp of breath. "Do you think this is its room?" He gestured at the windows.

"Well, I don't know. You want me to ask?" Mike joked.

"Please don't do that," came Tim's begging response. Apparently he was too nervous to spot Mike's obvious sarcasm. And that, in turn, set off Mike's 'tease little brother' mode.

"Welp, only one way to find out!" He turned to the window, cupping a hand around his mouth as he began half-yelling, half-whispering. "Hey, robot girl! You in there?! My little brother wants to talk to you!"

Tim was in a panic at his brother's apparent stupidity, pulling at Mike's arm madly to get him to stop. Of all the ideas Mike had had that night (thus far), this one was definitely the worst. Did he not know about letting sleeping dogs lie?

Mike just let out a weak, scornful laugh. There really was nothing to see here. The only thing that could make this trip worth it now was messing with Tim a bit more.

Both boys froze in an instant when they heard a startling noise. The sound of something metal falling to the ground with a sharp clanging sound reverberated throughout the facility. While Mike could not be sure, it sounded quite a ways away, and somewhere off to their right. It was probably the technician dropping something as he performed his job. Nothing to worry about.

When no further noises sounded out, the boys relaxed again- well, Mike relaxed and Tim still shook like a leaf. Mike checked his watch. Yeah, this had gone on long enough. It was disappointing that they came all this way for squat, but oh well. Hopefully Tim would be convinced that if there were robots that preyed on children down here, it would have come after them by now. Wishful thinking.

Slowly spinning on his heels, Mike turned back towards the vent from whence they had emerged earlier. "Come on, let's go home. We're done here."

"Wait, but...!" Tim began, and Mike stopped. "Aren't you gonna...?" the smaller boy gestured between Mike's flashlight and the dark window.

"Hmm? Now all of a sudden you want to see what's in there? I thought you were scared," Mike taunted.

Tim gulped. It was true, after all. But still... "We came down here to find out if I'm right," Tim declared, raising his shaking voice slightly. "S-So... we should... We should have a look," he managed.

"Pfuh." Mike let out a mocking sound. "It's already getting late. I'm not afraid of your dumb robots, but I am afraid of what'll happen if we're not back when Dad comes home. So let's go."

"But-!" Tim tried to retort, but he realized it was useless. His brother was older and he was much more headstrong than him, so Mike made the calls. There was no point in arguing, and Tim knew it.

It was then, when Mike was getting on his knees to crawl through the vent again, that another voice finally rang out.

"Children should not be here," it said. It was female, and it had a bit of a haunting quality to it, speaking with a deliberate cadence and even tone. "It is not safe."

Mike stopped mid-motion, then slowly got back on his feet and turned around. "What?" He looked at Tim, "You heard that too, right?" But Tim did not respond.

"You _are_ children, aren't you? Why did you come here? _How_ did you come here?" the voice asked.

That snapped Mike out of it. He quickly collected himself and put on his tough-big-brother voice. "Who's there? Show yourself," he called out.

"I am in front of the window before you. Can you not see me?" came the reply.

Now that he looked again, Mike realized that there was, indeed, _something_ in front of the window. It was only shapes- a vague silhouette- but it had definitely not been there when he looked earlier. Mike could not make out much, but something about the figure unsettled him. Perhaps precisely because he could just barely see it.

Mike took another glance at Tim, but he was still frozen in place, in exactly the same position as a few seconds ago. It seemed fear had fully paralyzed him. Fantastic, now he had to talk to this whoever-it-was by himself.

"Uh, do you work here, miss...?" He cautiously asked.

There was a pause. "In a sense, I do work here, yes."

So she was an employee? Mike was so confused. Why was this lady moving around in the darkness then? "Uh, look, I'm gonna use my flashlight so I can see you," he announced, brandishing the tool in question. "So don't flinch, okay?"

"Very well. Try not to yell, though. You might alert the technician," the voice said in a hushed tone.

Well, that was a weird comment. Why would Mike yell-

The flashlight went click.

Mike's eyes widened as an enormous, robotic face stared back at him through the window.

He probably would have let out a yell, had his voice not died in his throat. The only sound that could be heard was Tim quietly whimpering as he recognized the being of his nightmares.

* * *

 **A/N:** Ooh, that's quite the cliffhanger I'm leaving you on there. Sorry about that. Don't worry, though, the next chapter will be along soon enough. In the meantime, reviews are very much appreciated. I'm looking forward to hearing what you all think! Until next time!


	3. Meeting Baby

The robotic girl was the first to speak again, seeing as Mike was speechless and Tim was petrified. "Do not be alarmed, but I will now step closer to the window. I cannot see you very well from here."

Sure enough, with the rhythmic clank-clank noise of metal footsteps, accompanied by whirring clicks that grew more distinct as she neared, the animatronic approached the glass. It was only then that it dawned on Mike just how enormous the thing was. When he saw the poster, he had subconsciously imagined it- her?- to be around his height, or even a head shorter than him. An assumption based on her appearance, perhaps.

But seeing it(?) up close put an end to that notion. It- she- was easily taller than Dad, and quite robust at that. Mike had to resist the urge to shrink back. What was he afraid of? It wasn't like he believed Tim's stupid story. And besides, she (it?) was on the other side of the window. Surely they were not in any danger. Surely.

When she- Mike decided on that for now- was close enough to the window that her body was fully visible in the room's weak lighting, she bowed forward slightly. Mike assumed it was to get a better look at the two of them. She stared for a few seconds, first at Mike, then at Tim (who was now kneeling and covering his eyes), then quickly scanning the rest of the room. Mike could have imagined it, but he thought he heard her say "Two" in an almost inaudible voice.

Just when Mike was about to finally open his mouth to ask one of the dozens of questions that pooled his mind, the robot addressed him again. "It seems there is another child in the room with you, but they appear to be covering their face. Could you ask them what's wrong?"

Mike looked over to Tim and suppressed the urge to groan. He was definitely crying again. What a baby. "Hey," he said, lightly pressing the tip of his shoe into Tim's side. "I think she wants to speak to you."

With shuddering hands, Tim slowly uncovered his face and brushed at his wet cheeks as he looked up into the animatronic's green eyes- which Mike noted now appeared to glow slightly in the dim light. She stared back for a moment, but then her expression seemed to light up in recognition- as much as her expression _could_ change, that is. "Ah, you are little Timothy Afton! It's great to see you."

"H-huh, how...?" Tim managed to stammer out. She knew his name?

Mike looked back and forth between Tim and the robot behind the window. "Yeah, good question. How'd you know that?" He narrowed his eyes with suspicion.

It took a second before a response came. "I... do not know from where I learned your name. But the moment I saw your face, I recognized you immediately."

"Then, do you also know who I am?" Mike asked, pointing at his face. The robot looked at him, first normally, then leaning in even closer, her metal plate-covered face almost touching the window.

"...You do look familiar somehow," she slowly spoke. "But I do not quite recognize you."

"My name is Michael Afton," Mike supplied. "Does that help?"

"Oh... Ah, then you must be Timothy's older brother," the robot said. "Nice to meet you, Michael."

The robot did a curtsy of sorts- a little stiff, but it impressed Mike. He had not thought a machine was capable of such movement, let alone one with such an unwieldy construction.

"So, uhm, if you don't mind me asking, miss, uh, animatronic," Mike stumbled his way through his question. He almost felt stupid talking to a machine as if she were a normal person, but then, she seemed smarter than the average machine. "Do you have a name?"

The robot suddenly straightened up, raising her arms diagonally up in a somewhat cheery pose. "I am Circus Baby the Clown!" she declared, her voice suddenly much louder than it had been and with a rather unexpected saccharine tone. "But you can just call me Baby! Pleased to meet you all!"

The moment passed as suddenly as it began, and Baby dropped her arms again immediately. "Sorry about that," she said, her usual hushed tone returning. "I have some of those responses pre-programmed. I blurt them out when prompted. Hopefully it did not alert the on-duty technician."

"...Right," Mike replied once he recovered from the surprise.

"Now, if I might ask a question," Baby began, once again leaning in. "Why is Timothy crying? Did he hurt himself?"

"Hmm? Oh." Mike turned to see his brother still quietly kneeling on the ground, his head bowed. The occasional drop fell from his cheek onto the ground. Mike, who was more or less desensitized to the sight of his brother crying, interrupted the apparent pity party by prodding his younger brother in the shoulder. "Hey, quit bawling for a sec. Baby here's asking you a question."

Tim looked up with a shuddering breath, hesitantly looking into Baby's large eyes. She had a smile on her face- but that smile never moved, and it unnerved Tim perhaps more than anything else about the robot.

"What's wrong?" She innocently asked, head slightly tilted. How could she not understand what was wrong?

Still shivering uncontrollably, Tim raised a shaking finger and pointed at Baby. "Y-you..."

Previously unseen eyelids lowered over part of the robot's eyes to form an expression of mild confusion and concern. "Me? Am I frightening you?"

Tim did not acknowledge the question. He swallowed, then began again, voice still wavering but steeled with a certain vindictiveness. "You are the one who killed Lizzy."

Baby immediately reared back and let out a voiceless sound. It took Mike a moment to realize that it must have been a gasp- as far as a robot that does not breathe can gasp. "Ah, let me explain," he began. "Tim has a bit of a phobia of animatronics. That's why we're here, actually. He keeps telling nonsense about how a robot- that's you, I guess- killed Elizabeth, so... Did you?" Mike explained the problem in an almost bored tone. He already knew the answer, after all.

There was a silent moment, and then another. Then, speaking in a very slow voice, heavy with anguish, Baby finally replied. "Yes, I did kill a girl once. I could never forget that day."

Mike's eyes just about bulged out of their sockets.

" _What?!_ "

Baby looked between the two of them. "You must be her brothers," she asserted.

Tim's eyes widened as well. "How did you...?"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Mike interrupted. "So you _did_ kill Elizabeth? How? Why?"

"I do not know why," Baby replied, not looking at them. "It was not of my own volition. I was simply performing that day, happy to finally have my debut. Then at one point, there was only one child in the room with me, a girl. Something happened then. I was not... _myself_ anymore. I stopped singing, and my stomach opened. The girl saw that I had ice cream for her, so she moved closer. And then..."

"And then you pulled her in," Tim added. "And you ate her."

"Ate?" Baby gave the boy a curious look. "I am an animatronic, Timothy. I do not eat."

"Uh, m-my name's just Tim, actually..." Tim muttered. He realized that it was not that important right now, but he said it without thinking.

"So, so then what happened..?" Mike asked, his voice sounding like his thoughts were a mile away. He must have already known the answer, but his disbelief meant that he had to hear it with his own ears.

"After I pulled her in, there was screaming for a moment. But only a moment," Baby recalled. "Other children ran in again, but they did not hear her. That was the last time I was allowed to perform on stage... And so far, the only time." She sounded very melancholy at that.

"This can't be true," Mike weakly mumbled, stumbling back until he hit the wall. "This has to be a joke. This is..."

"Do you believe me now?" Tim was staring Mike dead in the eye. His eyes were still wet, but they glowered with pent-up frustration. Now his brother would _have_ to admit that he was right all along.

"I..." Mike sighed and stared at his hands, completely lost. The silence lasted several seconds, but was then rudely broken by the distant sound of clattering metal. The boys reflexively looked around for the source of the sound, but obviously it was nowhere nearby.

"I believe that is the technician," Baby commented. "He should be almost done with Funtime Foxy's repairs. I recommend that you leave quickly, before you run into him. I don't think you're supposed to be here."

"We're not," Mike admitted. "Well, this has been..." he trailed off as he searched for the right adjective, but he found none in his teenager vocabulary. Then again, even if he had a dictionary handy, what word could possibly describe what he had just been told? "...Well, it was something. I guess we should get going, then."

He began turning towards the vent, but then Baby raised a hand and called out. "Wait!"

Mike stopped and looked back at her, expectantly. Tim also stared.

"Will you... Do you intend to return here?" She asked, with an almost desperate tone.

Mike blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I... It's just... Well, I'll just tell you. It's horrible down here. I am fully self-aware, as I'm sure you've realized by now. But the others and I... We're all forced to only do as we're told and nothing else, day in and day out." She looked down at the ground. She had looked so imposing at first, but now she was almost pitiful. "It's... torture. I really shouldn't say this, but I can't help but hope that you'll come see me again someday."

Mike blinked several times, as if to express his incredulity.

"I know it's dangerous, and I know I already said children like you shouldn't be here, but I... You're the first people in a long time who-"

"Are you kidding me?" Mike's sneer interrupted Baby's meandering, and his glare showed his opinion before he even expressed it. "You just admitted to killing my sister. _Our_ sister. And you expect us to keep you company in this pit? Do you have _any_ idea-"

"Okay. Can we come visit the day after tomorrow?"

Mike did a double take as Tim- his meek, crybaby little brother Tim- interrupted him. He opened his mouth to say something, but Tim was not even looking at him. He was staring Baby in the eyes, who was just as surprised as Mike was.

"Ah, well, that sounds fine, yes. But why do you suddenly..." Baby's question trailed off. She sounded like she honestly did not expect either brother to agree so easily- let alone that the frightened younger one who had accused her would be the one to do so.

"We still have a bunch of things to talk about," Tim said simply. "I'm still scared of you, kinda. But this is important."

Another sound in the distance. Mike impatiently bounced on his heels. "Well then, I guess we better get going!" without properly saying goodbye, he quickly turned around and ducked into the vent. The "motion trigger" voice predictably spoke not long after that.

Baby awkwardly looked at Tim, who had finally gotten up from his kneeling position, and gave him a small wave. "I guess I will see you in a while. Goodbye for now."

"Wait."

Baby had already turned to leave, but Tim had one more thing to say. When the animatronic turned back to look, Tim had taken out his flashlight and was scanning her with it.

"I have a question," he said, while looking at her face intently. Specifically, her eyes.

"Ask away."

"I saw you on the day my sister died," he began explaining. "And I'm sure your eyes were blue."

"Yes, that is correct. I was designed with a blue eye color, as my creators felt that would give me a calm and nonthreatening appearance."

"But... your eyes are green now. Why is that?" It sounded like the question was important to Tim, somehow.

"Oh." Baby looked lost for a second. "...I don't know why, actually."

"Okay. That's all I wanted to ask. Good night, Baby." Tim looked like he was trying to force a smile, but his obvious discomfort and lingering fear was holding him back. Still, Baby seemed to appreciate the attempt.

"Good night, Tim." For the first time since the conversation began, Baby's permanent smile felt a little genuine. Her gaze lingered on Tim as he turned to follow Mike.

But then, as she did so, her eyes began rapidly darting around the room and eventually glazed over when they found no other presence there.

"One."

Tim was sure he heard her say it, even though it was very, very quiet. "What?"

When Tim looked at Baby again, his breath caught in his throat. Her eyes were unfocused and unseeing, her arms hung limp to her sides as her head and shoulders lolled backwards a little- and her stomach was wide open.

And within her stomach cavity, a serving of ice cream waited. It looked a little crystallized, but still tantalizing.

Slowly, Tim backed away. No. No, no, no. It was just like...

Every nightmare he had since that horrible day came back to him all at once, nearly sending him to the ground in a wave of nausea.

Without daring to look again, he ducked into the vent and crawled faster than he had ever done before. It was not until he almost crashed into Mike, who was waiting in the middle room, that he slowed down- but he did not speak again the whole way home, even as his older brother questioned him about his panic-stricken face, devoid of all color.

* * *

 **A/N:** There we go. Now we're getting to the real meat of the story. Let me know what you think!


	4. Belief and Suspicion

When the boys got home- luckily, they got the elevator to work as expected- they rushed to bed without another word. Mike tried to discuss what they saw and heard in the facility with Tim, but it was clear the younger brother was far too shaken to say much, and it was clear that mental fatigue was catching up to him.

Despite Tim's tiredness and the late hour, however, sleep did not come easy. He found himself nearly drifting off several times, but then his eyes would reflexively open again with a start, as if his senses were telling him that he needed to stay alert, or else.

When exhaustion finally caught him off guard, Tim found himself in a dreamscape- not in the restaurant of his nightmares, for once. He was in a large children's bedroom, but not one he immediately recognized. It was dark, but he could still see fairly well. On one end was a closet, its shuttered doors half-open. On the other side there was a large bed, and on one side of the bed, holding a Freddy Fazbear plushie, there sat...

"Lizzy!"

Tim hurriedly rushed over to her. She turned to him- she actually responded this time!- and gave him a small smile. It took Tim aback a little. On the surface, Lizzy did not look a day older than the day she died. But her slow mannerisms, the weary look on her face, the dullness of her eyes, which ones shone with youthful exuberance... What had happened to her?

She patted the bed beside her as she set down the Freddy plushie on the other side, inviting him to sit. He quickly obliged.

"Hey, Tim." Lizzy ruffled her brother's hair. She was only older than him by about a year, but she always tried to act like she was a wise, responsible big sister to him, especially since Mike was usually just mean, and Dad was... Yeah. Tim was always a little annoyed by it then, because Lizzy was hardly any more mature than him, but now he didn't mind at all. He was just happy to see her again.

"Lizzy, I... It's been so long since I got to talk to you, I don't..." Words dried up in Tim's throat. He could feel his eyes prickling again, the now overly familiar feeling of tears welling up returning, but this time they were happy tears.

"I know. That's what happens when you're dead," Lizzy replied in a half-joking, half-melancholic tone. Then she turned to him and gave him a sideways hug. "I've missed you too, Tim. I've been lonely."

"Lonely? Don't you have any friends where you are now?" Tim asked. He didn't want his sister to be lonely.

"Oh, yes, I have a few... friends, kind of. But we're all lonely together. It's so bleak where we are now. We don't get to see people very often, and there's nothing much to do." Lizzy looked down, a sad smile on her face.

"Is there... anything I can do to help you?" Tim cautiously asked.

Lizzy gave him a hard-to-read look. "Help me? Maybe... I don't know. You'll have to figure that out yourself."

"What do you mean?"

Before Lizzy could reply, a cacophony of sound erupted from the hallways. It sounded distant at first, but it approached steadily. Scratching noises, growls, roars, whirring and clicking sounds, the groaning of metal. And heavy footfalls.

Tim dared to look through one of the ajar doors and immediately regretted it when he saw cold, predatory eyes staring back at him. He immediately flinched and covered his face with his arms.

"Don't be scared. They're not here for you. They've come to take me back," Lizzy calmly said. She hopped off the bed and slowly walked a few paces away from Tim.

"What? Lizzy, wait! They're dangerous!" Tim cried. To his relief, Lizzy did listen to him and turned around, but her pitying smile did not bode well.

"They won't hurt me. I'm not like you anymore, Tim. I'm one of _them_ now."

She walked to the center of the room, then sighed. "I know we only just met again, but this is goodbye for now. I have to go. I hope we get to see each other again soon." Her eyes overflowed with sorrow, but her smile remained on her face, unmoving.

"No!" Tim overcame his apprehension and jumped off the bed too. He wasn't going to let them take her away again, not this time!

"Stay back!" Lizzy told him, and he immediately obeyed. Something was wrong with her. It was like somebody had tied her limbs and back to invisible boards so she couldn't move them properly anymore.

"Lizzy...?"

The poor girl looked like she was going to be sick, but that did not happen. Instead, she rapidly turned unnaturally pale as her skin split open in even slits across her body, but not a drop of blood appeared, as if she was hollow. Her hair, meanwhile, became a glossy red color and seemed to retract into her scalp, locks fusing together into a single mass. Her eyes widened further and further, far beyond human capabilities, and sunk a little into her face, becoming glassy as they did. She staggered as she gradually grew taller, soon dwarfing Tim, who stumbled back in shock.

Her skin was now divided into segmented plates, most of them off-white, with the occasional metallic light gray plate. Bolts and pins dotted the connecting joints, as if keeping it all in place. Her clothes had turned the same red color as her hair and reformed to leave her waist bare, but her navel had been replaced by a hole with plastic, fan blade-like objects sticking through it.

Her head had swollen considerably. The 'hair' was now the same consistency as her 'skin', the only difference being the red paint, and now featured two pigtails on the sides of her head. Her now-useless nose had a clownish pink color, as did her cheeks; a sick, failed attempt at forced cheer. Her ears had vanished entirely, while her still-smiling lips were parted slightly- But there was no mouth behind them anymore, only metal teeth.

When she finally stopped changing, Tim felt a nauseating combination of horror and confusion as he recognized the towering form of the animatronic before him.

"See you, Tim," Lizzy's sorrowful voice came from Circus Baby's unmoving mouth. Then the robot turned and carefully shuffled her way through the (to her) narrow doorway.

The terrifying eyes that still stared at Tim from the darkness produced one final threatening snarl, then disappeared as well, leaving the stunned boy behind in the now lonely room.

All Tim could do was sink to his knees and bow his head, but no tears would come this time.

* * *

When Tim awoke from his dream, his thoughts felt like they were going a hundred miles an hour. Once they eventually settled down, he was left with a truly unbelievable conclusion; the undeniable, but also impossible revelation his subconscious mind had produced. He had to talk to Mike about this as soon as possible.

Tim was roused from his thoughts when he heard the sound of Mike and Dad talking. It occurred to him that they might have been found out, and that would mean Dad was here to punish them. Anxious fear gripping him, he stepped out of bed and shuffled to the door as quietly as possible, then listened in on the conversation through it.

"Are you sure?" Dad asked. It sounded probing, as if he was trying to gauge if Mike was lying.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Mike replied coolly. His voice had an 'I don't know what you're talking about' tinge to it. Tim knew his brother well enough to recognize when he was feigning ignorance. He hoped that Dad was not as perceptive.

"I just had a feeling something happened while I was gone last night. But I suppose I must have imagined it after all." Dad sounded like he was saying one thing while he actually meant another, but Tim did not know what that could mean. He just hoped it would not spell trouble.

"Putting that aside, I have somewhere to be at the moment. Busy as always. Remember to keep an eye on your brother, Michael. And don't get into any trouble," Dad warned. Tim then heard his footsteps leading away, pausing near the front door, then a few moments later the sound of it opening and closing.

Tim hurriedly got dressed, then walked into the living room, where Mike waited. Now that they had both had a not-that-good night's rest, they needed to talk.

"Well, good news," Mike said. "Dad has no idea what happened as far as I can tell. He did ask if anything happened last night, but I think he was just bluffing. I managed to convince him there's nothing to worry about. And he said he has to work late the next couple nights, apparently, so we can take our time."

Tim didn't reply, but he did breathe a sigh of relief. It would have been bad if they gave Dad a reason to be mad at them.

"Now," Mike continued, "I think it's time you told me what happened last night. You left me waiting for a bit at the end there, then you came running all spooked."

Tim uncomfortably rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah... I wanted to ask Baby something else, but then her stomach thing opened." He swallowed. "It was just like with Lizzy. She tried to lure me closer with ice cream, but I ran."

"She tried to kill you?" Mike frowned. He never would have believed his brother before, but now that he knew there was reason to be afraid...

"Well, that's just it. I don't know what she was thinking. There was still the window between us, so I couldn't have come closer if I wanted to," Tim muttered.

"Even so, if what she told us is true, then she's dangerous," Mike said. For once, he took what his brother said very seriously. "I don't think that window will stop her if she really wants to get us."

"But we _need_ to go back!" Mike was taken aback by Tim's sudden conviction. "Lizzy- she-" His words failed him. How was he going to convey his insane thought to his ever-skeptical brother?

"Elizabeth? Do you want that robot to pay for what she's done to her?" Mike guessed.

"No, no!" Tim cried. "I think- I think that Baby might BE Lizzy!"

Mike blinked twice, processing what he was just told for a second. "What."

"Well, only kind of," Tim tried to backtrack. "I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out-"

" _What_ ," Mike repeated, his tone a little sharper this time. He shot Tim a look that communicated "if you're trying to be funny, then it's not working in the very slightest".

"Please, Mike! I know you don't wanna believe me, but you didn't believe me last time either, and I was right then!" Tim argued. "Listen, I think Lizzy's spirit is still around. She might be inside the robot that killed her, but she doesn't remember who she is!"

"I should've known," Mike rolled his eyes. "It never ends with you. You've finally convinced me with your killer robot story, and now you come up with _ghosts_. What's next, zombies? Aliens?"

"But Baby knew who I was, even though I don't think she ever saw me that day. And she said you looked familiar! And she knew we're Lizzy's brothers, and, and!" Tim had to stop, out of breath and too far ahead of his own thoughts.

"I still don't see how that makes any sense," Mike frowned. "How does that prove she's actually Elizabeth?"

"Well, she might not actually _be_ Lizzy, exactly, but..." Tim took another deep breath. "But her eyes were blue when I saw her on the day Lizzy died. I'm sure of that. Yesterday, though, her eyes were green. _Lizzy_ had green eyes," he said with conviction.

Mike let out a "tsk". "There's like a hundred different reasons why that doesn't mean anything."

"Like what?"

"Well- Well, maybe they just decided to change it!" Mike yelled, frustration mounting. It was obvious he was just grasping.

"Why?"

"I don't know!" Came the reply, along with an annoyed shrug. "I still say it's stupid to think that means she's our dead sister! Where do you get off spouting that kind of nonsense?"

"That's just what I believe," Tim simply mumbled. "It's just a small part of her, but she's there, I just know it. And she's waiting for us to help her."

Mike sharply exhaled a breath through his nose as he rested his forehead on his fingertips. "Right. Okay. Fine. We'll go, then. I wanted to find out more about all this, anyway. But don't think for a second I'm buying this."

He stormed off, and Tim wondered for a second if Mike believed it more than he was letting on. Did he _want_ to believe it? Tim knew it was a tough pill to swallow, but for him, there was no denying it. It had to be true. All the signs were there, but Mike wouldn't see them. So it was up to Tim to help his sister.

* * *

The day came and went without much incident; Dad showed up to check on them a couple times, but he did not ask anything that indicated he was suspicious of them. He had that look in his eyes that showed the gears in his head were spinning, though, and Tim hated that look. It never spelled any good.

The next day was more waiting. They would go back to see Baby again tonight, but they wouldn't have to plan anything this time- they already had a way in, after all.

As the hours crawled by, Tim began to wonder about Dad's role in all this. The robot he helped make could lure and murder kids. In fact, they did kill someone, and not just anyone either. Would Dad really make something so dangerous and let his children go near them? Tim had realized for a while now that Dad was... not the best dad. But would he do something so terrible? Was the man who raised them a murderer? Tim had a hard time imagining it. Even Dad would never even dream of something like that... Would he? And to kill his own daughter, no less. There was no way.

But then, did that mean it was Uncle Henry? That was almost even harder to believe. Uncle Henry never seemed like a bad man, not even remotely. But then again, what did Tim really _know_ about Uncle Henry? He was a friend of Dad's, and he once had a daughter, and he designed characters, and he helped Dad with the animo- animati- the robots, and with the restaurants, sometimes... But if it wasn't Dad, then did that mean that he...?

Maybe it was just an accident? Was that possible? Probably not. Definitely not, actually, but Tim didn't know what to believe anymore.

It was as he pondered this that he heard a sound, and when he went to investigate it, he caught Mike in the middle of committing a cardinal sin. The older boy had gone into Dad's study- forbidden territory, the brothers knew all too well- and he was rifling through the desk drawers and cabinets, pulling out whatever sheets of paper he could find and scanning them at unbelievable speed before putting them back.

Tim cautiously stepped in too and looked at the display for a few seconds. Then he dared to ask, "What are you doing?"

Mike jumped, clutching his chest, then exhaled when he saw it was only Tim. "Don't scare me like that."

He immediately went back to what he was doing. Tim began to think he wasn't going to get an answer, but after a few seconds Mike began talking as he searched. "The whole thing with Elizabeth's death got me thinking. I've been kinda ignoring what Dad's been doing this whole time, too busy with school and friends and all. But now I gotta know... Ah!"

He looked at a small stack of sheets he had found, held together with a staple. "As I thought." He quickly wadded up the papers and crammed them into his jacket pocket.

He went on with rummaging a while longer. "So I'm looking for anything Dad wrote down about Circus Baby. He made her, so he's gotta have some sort of- Ah, gotcha!"

He evidently found what he was looking for, taking a blue sheet of paper out of a binder and slamming it onto the desk in a swift motion. Tim cautiously got closer to study it. There were silhouettes of what looked like Baby on a blue sheet. One from the front, one from the side, and one of just her head. There were all kinds of weird lines and shapes running through the pictures; Tim guessed those were her insides.

"Ah, look right there," Mike said. He pointed at the frontal picture of Baby, near her stomach. There was a white line that led to the letter 'B' there. On the side near the corner, next to another letter 'B', Tim read...

"Internal ice cream dispenser...?" He didn't understand what Mike was getting at.

His older brother just rolled his eyes. "Never mind." He took the sheet of paper again and put it back where he found it. "Dad will probably realize if this goes missing, so I can't take this with me. But I saw enough."

He quickly sorted the mess he'd made, taking care to leave the study as he had found it. Then he walked towards the door, tugging on Tim's arm, who just stood there in confusion. "Come on, we gotta get out of here before Dad comes back."

And so they left, Mike immediately taking off to do whatever he needed to do next, leaving Tim behind to wonder what that was all about. It frustrated him how his brother knew something that he wouldn't explain to him. Mike was always like that. Eventually, he reassured himself that if it was important, he would find out soon enough.

* * *

 **A/N:** There we go. The next chapter is a bit of a struggle to write, but I'm looking forward to the ones that come after it, I think that's going to be the fun part. Hope you do as well, and I hope you enjoyed this. See you next update!


End file.
